Synchronizing means for ironing or like roller machines



Aug. 12, 1941. pom- N 2,252,471

SYNCHRONIZING MEANS FOR IRONING OR LIKE ROLLER MACHINES Filed May 28, 1938 2 Shes ts-Shee t l 12, 1941- J. E. POINTON 2,252,471

SYNCHRONIZING MEANS FOR IRONING OR LIKE ROLLER MACHINES Filed May 28,, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Aug. 12, 1941 SYNCHRONIZING MEANS FOR IRONING OR- LIKE ROLLER MACHINES John Edward Pointon, Peterborough, England,

assignor to Baker Perkins Limited, Peterborough, England Application May 28, 1938, Serial No. 210,709 In Great Britain June 14, 1937 Claims.

This invention has reference to laundry ironing machines of the kind employing a plurality of rollers which may simultaneously act upon clothing or material passing through the machine.

In these machines the rollers are covered with padding or clothing which is liable to wear or become compacted. Rollers do not wear equally and the difference in peripheral speed between adjacent rollers may be such that articles coming under the grip of the adjacent rollers are tensioned and are liable to be torn. This objection is more marked in connection with the pair of rollers at the feed end of the machine.

The aim of the invention is to overcome the above objection and to provide means whereby the peripheral speeds of adjacent rollers may be maintained equal or approximatelyequal.

Although the invention is primarily intended for application to laundry ironing machines and for convenience will be described herein with reference thereto, it will be understood that the invention is not limited in this direction but may be applied to any machines wherein the Peripheral speeds of rollers is liable to vary owing to unequal wear of the circumference or other causes and have deleterious effects upon the material passing under the rollers.

The invention consists in means for indicating or detecting diiferences of peripheral speed of a pair of rollers and means whereby the drive of one or other of the rollers may be accelerated or retarded according to a difference in speed as indicated or detected to reestablish equality of the peripheral speeds.

Accordin to one form, one of the rollers is driven through a variable speed gear which is adjusted to accelerate or retard the rate of drive in accordance with differences indicated or de tected by means which receive a drive from the peripheral surface of each roller.

In some cases it may be desired to employ hand-operated control means for the variable speed gear in which case adjustments are made in accordance with the relative peripheral speed conditions indicated and observed by the operator, while in other installations the control may be required to cause the displacement of a memher in one direction or another according to the difference of speed detected, to actuate automatically the control means of the variable speed gear so that the appropriate roller is accelerated or retarded according to whether the detected speed difference is slower or faster than that of the other roller.

One suitable form of automatic detecting or indicating device comprises a differential gear, each of the two gear elements of which receive a drive from the periphery of two rollers respectively, while the third or intermediate element and cage is displaced when a difference in the rate of the two drives occurs. The displacement of the cage may be utilised to establish or disestablish an electric circuit for actuating electromotive means adapted to operate the control means of the variable speed gear.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is an elevation showing diagrammatically a pair of ironer rollers with synchronizing means according to the invention.

Figures 2 and 3 are detail views of the synchronizing means,

Figure 4 is an elevation showing diagrammatically a modified arrangement.

In carrying the invention into effect according to one convenient mode as applied by way of example to an ironing machine comprising a. plurality of rollers (usually called padded rollers) and a corresponding plurality of concave steam heated beds, the first pair of rollers 5, 6 (Figure 1) (i. e. on which the wear is greatest) each have a friction disc or roller 1 and 8 respectively mounted in appropriate ball bearings and riding in contact with the padding or clothing 9, H) of the roller of the machine so that the friction rollers are each driven at a rate corresponding with the peripheral speed of the respective padded roller. the padding 9 and I0 by gravity or they may be lightly spring pressed into contact therewith; for example the friction rollers may be carried at the ends of pivoted levers II and i2 so that the rollers or discs ride by their own weight upon the padding. A drive from each of the friction rollers l and 8 is imparted to the elements ofa detecting device as described hereinafter.

Assuming that the drive for the padded rollers 5 and 6 is by an electric motor one of the pair of padded rollers, viz. 5, is driven directly from the electric motor I3 by the chain ll while the other, 6, is through chains l5 and I6 driven indirectly by a variable speed gear I4 of the cone or any other infinitely variable type. The control element of the gear, that is to say the means for shifting the belt with respect to the cone pulleys or for otherwise altering the gear ratio is actuated by an auxiliary reversing electric motor 18. For example thevariable speed control spindle l 9 has mounted upon it a pulley or sprocket 20 These rollers I and 8 may rest upon which is driven through a belt or chain 2| from the reversing motor I8.

The spindle IQ of the control means is extended and carries three slip ring 22, 23 and 24 having brushes connected to the reversing switch of the reversing motor. In addition to the slip rings the spindle carries a forked arm 25, each fork 2B of which carries a contact element Z'l wired to one of the slip rings.

Coaxial with the forked arm 25 is a friction disc 28 mounted on a stub shaft 29 which is mounted in suitable bearings and carries a gear wheel 30 fixed thereon so that any movement of the gear is communicated to the friction disc. Loosely mounted on the same shaft 29 is a float ing arm 3! carrying a head piece 32 which projects between the fork 26 of the forked arm on the change speed spindle I9 and carries a springpressed shoe 33 adapted to bear with a slipfriction grip upon the periphery of the friction disc 28. On the head piece at each side, a contact member 36 is provided which is adapted to engage one of the opposite contacts 2'! on the fork 26 according to the direction of relative displacement. These intermediate contacts 34 on the head piece are wired in common to the third slip ring of the reversing switch.

The gear wheel 30 on the stub shaft 29 referred to above is driven in accordance with differences of peripheral speed as may exist between the two padded rollers and 6. Any difference in speed is detected and indicated if desired) by means of a differential gear of common type, the two opposed bevel wheels 35, 36 of which receive respectively a drive from each of the friction rollers l and 8 through flexible transmissions 37, 38. The cage 39 of the differential gear on which is mounted the third bevel gear 40 in mesh with the two opposed bevels 35, 36 has a gear wheel H which is adapted to drive the gear wheel 36 on the stub shaft referred to above. With this arrangement of differential gear it will be appreciated that while the two opposite bevel gears 35, 38 are driven at the same speed the third bevel ll) will rotate idly and the position of the cage 39 will be maintained, while if one opposed bevel commences to receive a drive at a different speed from that of the other bevel then the cage 39 and its gear lil will be given a rotary displacement and the stub shaft spindle 29 will be given a corresponding or proportionate rotation, causing a displacement in one direction or the other of the friction'disc 29 and through the friction shoe 33 of the adjacent floating arm. This movement will cause one of the intermediate contacts 34 on the head piece to come into contact with one or other of the contacts 21 on the fork arms 25, 26 according to the direction of displacement. A circuit will be established which operates the switch to cause the reversible motor If! to revolve the control spindle 9 to change the gear ratio so that the padded roller 6 which is driven through the variable gear is accelerated or retarded to bring its peripheral speed into agreement with that of the roller 5.

It will be appreciated that when one of the intermediate contacts 34 engages one or other of the contacts 2'? on the forked arm, engagement will remain until the reversing motor 18 rotates the control spindle at a rate exceeding that at which the floating arm 3! and intermediate contact is driven when the contacts will separate and the circuit be disestablished. In this way correction will continue until the peripheral speeds of the padded rollers 5 and 6 again correspond.

In carrying the invention into effect when it is desired to provide a device controlled by the operator, friction rollers 42, 43 riding on the padding of the two padded rollers 5 and 6 to be controlled, each communicate a drive through suitable means such as flexible shafts 44, 45 or other gearing, to clock face indicators 46, 41 or a clock face indicator having a pair of hands, one mounted upon a sleeve coaxial with a spindle carrying the other hand so that the peripheral speeds of the two rollers may be visually COlIlpared. When the two hands 48, 49 coincide or show the same reading it will be appreciated that the peripheral speed of the two padded rollers 5 and 6 is the same. When there is a divergence between the hands then the operator will observe that one roller has a peripheral speed faster than the other one. In these conditions in order to re-establish unison of peripheral speed between the two rollers 5 and 6 he will operate by hand the control shaft of a variable speed gear through which one of the rollers is driven (as referred to above). For this purpose the control shaft is provided with a suitable hand wheel 50 and the variable gear is altered to effect acceleration or retardation of the padded roller in question as may be required to meet the conditions shown by the indicator.

Instead of communicating the drive from the friction rollers to a clock face indicator the drive may operate a differential gear as already described above and the cage may carry an indicator or pointer which will inform the operator when and in which direction the variable speed gear control requires actuation in order to effect the necessary correction.

I claim:

1. Means for synchronizing the peripheral speeds of two rollers, such as adjacent rollers of an ironing machine, the diameters of which are liable to variation, comprising means for driving the rollers from a common source, the drive to one roller including a variable speed gear, a control device for said gear, a friction disc for each roller adapted to ride upon the peripheries of the rollers and to be driven thereby, and means for transmitting the drives of said discs to said control device, to cause an adjustment of said variable speed gear to provide an acceleration or retardation of the speed of one of the rollers.

2. Means for synchronizing the peripheral speeds of two rollers, such as adjacent rollers of an ironing machine, the diameters of which are liable to Variation, comprising means for driving the rollers from a common source, the drive to one roller including a variable speed gear, a control device for said gear, said control device including a member displaceable in one direction or another to adjust the gear, a friction disc for each roller adapted to ride upon the peripheries of the rollers and to be driven thereby, and means for transmitting the drives of said discs to said control device to cause the displacement of said member according to a difference in peripheral speed between the rollers.

3. Means for synchronizing the peripheral speeds of the two rollers, such as adjacent rollers of an ironing machine, the diameters of which are liable to variation, comprising means for driving the rollers from a common source, the drive to one roller including a variable speed gear, a friction disc for each roller adapted to ride upon the peripheries of the rollers and to be driven thereby, a differential gear, comprising a 7 2 2,252,471 pair of opposed gears, a third gear and cage,

transmission means between said discs and said opposed gears, a control drive =Ior the variable speed gear, electromotive means for operating said control -means, an electric circuit for said electromotive means, said circuit being established or broken by a displacement of said third gear and cage of the differential when a differ-- ence in the peripheral speeds of the rollers occurs.

4. Means for synchronizing as claimed in claim 3 wherein the friction discs are coupled to r ''the .opposed gears of the differential by flexible driving means.

JOHN EDWARD POINTQN. 

